Awards/Acknowledgments

This blog has evolved and has taken on somewhat of a life of its own. It has been and is a real joy as I have met a lot of new people from all over the world who love food, cooking, good times and sharing as much as we do. I have also learned new tricks and techniques that have improved my culinary skills and approaches to food. In the process I have been ever so fortunate to have been honored with various awards and acknowledgments from my fellow bloggers and food loving community. To think that someone actually likes the blog, the recipes and photos enough to honor me with these awards and acknowledgments is a real treat and I am forever thankful and honored.

I am very honored to have been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by Denlyn3 of the What to Cook Blog; Jennifer at the Foodery blog; and Mimi Rippee at Chef Mimi Blog. You really need to check out their blogs.

Denlyn3 is a dedicated high school teacher in California cooking for fun and his family. He shows his weekly menu and some of the items he has prepared during the week. One of my favorite posts is Pot Roast by Linda. This is his wife’s family recipe (I love family recipes) and looks absolutely delish. Stop over at What to Cook and check him out.

Jennifer at the Foodery is a graduate of the University of Hawaii, Manoa with a BFA in Painting now living in upstate NY (talk about culture shock and a change of scenery). When you see her photos you realize she has a degree in art because she has a great eye for capturing her food. Her recipes are also very nice and innovative and her writing style is fun and easy to read. She also gets FRESH vanilla pods from her father’s vanilla plant which makes me soooo jealous. Check out her post Flavor of the Week: Orange You Glad I Didn’t Say Banana? It’s got a nice recipe for Orange Date Cake that is to die for.

Chef Mimi, although not “professionally” trained in the classical sense, is quite knowledgeable in and around the kitchen. She has been at varying times a personal chef, caterer, food writer, recipe developer, cooking show host, cookbook author. So, despite her protestations to the contrary Chef Mimi has been professionally trained. Definitely give her blog a look and check out her post on Sausage Making. It’s a classic.

Now as to the Versatile Blogger Award, blogsphere is silent as to the origination of the Versatile Blogger Award but the award is a means by which fellow bloggers can acknowledge those blogs and bloggers that they believe merit recognition. It’s always nice to know someone out there actually reads and likes what you do. Thanks so much Denlyn3, Jennifer and Mimi. I truly appreciate the nomination.

Now I get to bestow the honor back or onward to others! For those about to be nominated, here are the rules:

Thank the person who nominates you and link back to them in your posts.

Share seven things about yourself.

Pass the award on to fifteen more bloggers that you enjoy.

Contact the people you have nominated.

Seven Things About Myself

I am a 57 year old attorney practicing in the field of product liability, fires, insurance and general business disputes.

I live in DFW with my lovely wife, the Baby Lady, who married me on Valentine’s Day in Santa Fe New Mexico.

I am a lover of my wife, good wine and everything food.

I love to travel, which is good because I travel with my work extensively and accompany Baby Lady on her business trips when I can.

We purchased our current house in 2004, completely gutted the kitchen and built the kitchen of our dreams.

I have no favorite foods or dishes because I like almost everything except liver which I truly do not like.

Thanks to everyone who has dropped by and read the blog; liked or commented on a post; and to my friends and sister-in-law who encouraged me to do this. REMCooks gives me an avenue to share one of Baby Lady’s and my passions with those around the world while also learning new things and ideas from fellow bloggers. Thanks again guys for the nomination. It was and is very much appreciated

Assia, an expat lawyer living in Singapore (lawyers sure do get around) and creator of Assia’s Kaleidoscope, graciously nominated me for this award. If you haven’t checked out Assia’s site, you need to. Her photos are beautiful both in composition and creativity. I wish my photos were half as nice as hers. Her recipes are really nice, too. Check out here post on Feeding Pigs Cherries (and Berries). The photo is beautiful and the recipe delish! It was very sweet of her to nominate me for this award and I am very honored that she selected me to pass on this award.

By accepting this award, I am to:

Thank the nominating blogger, and link to their blog;

List 7 random facts about me;

List 7 of my posts in 7 different categories (categories listed below); and

Nominate 7 more bloggers.

Here I go:

7 Random Facts About Me:

I spent part of the time composing this post in the stairwell closet because DFW was apparently tornado alley earlier today. It was cramped, uncomfortable and hot. Thankfully, it’s all clear now and there was no damage.

I absolutely love music and am a die-hard romantic. Ask the Baby Lady.

I like kitchen gadgets of all kinds.

I won’t let anyone burn candles in our house, including the Baby Lady, because of what I do for a living, namely investigating product liability fires and seeing numerous candle fires. I even installed the Aga Legacy 44 range in our kitchen in an enclave surrounded by tumblestone because it is not combustible and not a fire hazard. The whole family thinks I am weird.

I shoot all the food photos with a Sony A580 with a Minolta 50 mm 1:2.8 Macro lens with no touchups because I don’t have a clue how to use Photoshop.

Although I have lived 56 of my 57 years in Texas, I was born in Madison, Wisconsin and absolutely adore cheese.

Most Pride Worthy: Aunt Ginny’s & Mom’s Modified Spinach Casserole. I include this one because it comes from two people in my life that were instrumental in my growing up and becoming who I am. I also miss them dearly. The recipe is really good, too.

Most Popular: Roasted Cauliflower with Red Chile, Cilantro & Lime. This dish hands down is the most popular post I have made, both on REMCooks.com and Pinterest. It is absolutely amazing how popular this dish is as it comprises over 40% of the total hits on the blog. It’s also as good as it is popular but there are other recipes on REMCooks.com that we prefer. We also can’t eat cauliflower every day no matter how good it is. 😮

7 Blogger Nominations.

I would like to nominate and pass this award on to the following bloggers:

Thanks again to Assia for the nomination and for all those who continue to read, follow, comment and support REMCooks.com. This is and has been a wonderful experience. I look forward to reading more and more articles, learning new recipes, tricks and tips and meeting more foodies in the world.

Jennifer over at the Foodery nominated me not for just one award but two, both the Versatile Blogger Award and the Sunshine Award. She is exceptionally sweet and I am deeply honored to have been nominated by her twice.

In addition, Virginia at Our Growing Pains also nominated me for the Sunshine Award. I am greatly honored she would think of me for this award. Virginia has a fun blog and is into gardening, cooking from scratch and knitting. She likes Italian food and one of my favorite posts on her site is Pasta Carbonara where she makes the pasta from scratch. I love fresh made pasta. Thanks, Virginia. I am very honored to receive this award.

Veena Mitra at Veena’s Delicious Recipes blog also nominated me for the Sunshine Award. What a delightful honor. Thank you, Veena. Now let me tell you a little about Veena. Veena does Indian food, Bangali food is her favorite, and she does it right. Check out her blog and, in particular, check out her post on Sorsae Macch (Fish with mustard sauce). Thanks, Veena. I sincerely appreciate this honor.

The Rules of the Sunshine Award are 1) Accept the award; 2) post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link; 3) answer the questions below; 4) pass the award to 10 other blogs providing links to their blogs; and 5) contacting them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Questions:

1. favorite color? – Blue and I have absolutely no idea why, it just is.

2. favorite animal? – Cats because they are so independent and kinda goofy to boot

3. favorite number? – 57 because that is currently my age

4. favorite color? – Still blue

5. favorite drink? – Red wines. If I had to limit to a particular variety it would be Cabernet (at least today)

6. Facebook or Twitter? – Both

7. what is your passion? – Baby Lady

8. giving or getting presents? – giving, I buy most things I want and people tell me I’m hard to buy gifts for

9. favorite day of the week? – Saturday because I get to sleep late. 😀

10. favorite flower? – Rose because there is nothing more beautiful, except, of course, the Baby Lady

Blogger Nominations.

This is always the hardest part because there are so many good blogs out there with wonderful people, many of whom have already received these awards. Nonetheless, I would nominate the following blogs in no particular order

1. Alison over at MixerUpper. I just recently found Allison’s blog as she has only been blogging as MixerUpper since March 2012. Allison is a food writer and recipe writer. When you read her blog you can see she is very talented and knows her way around food. I really liked her post Heirloom Tomatoes and am looking forward to trying it.

2. Claudia at the Accidental Chef. I also only recently found Claudia’s blog. I don’t know why it took me so long but it did. Claudia lives in LA and posts some beautiful photos and recipes. I particularly like her post on GOAT CHEESE AND LAVENDER CHEESECAKE and it’s definitely on the list of recipes to try.

3. John over at Sybaritica. John is another lawyer foodie in the northern territory of Nunavut, Canada. It’s a wonder how we all find each other. John’s blog contains recipes and experiments in his kitchen with honest critiques about the results, photos, restaurant reviews, etc. It’s kinda an all purpose foodie blog. Check out his Post Experiment: Beef with Cumin and Scallions.

6. Nina Baydoun at Tabkhet el Yom ( what to cook for lunch today). Nina is a Lebanese mother of 4. Being a mother of 4 requires you to be a saint and her food is heavenly. She shares her simple and cook friendly recipes and provides beautiful photos. I’m always hungry after going to her blog. Check out her recipe for Homage To My Father… Kibbe With Spinach.

7. NOLA Chef is one of my favorite blogs to read. NOLA, like the abbreviation, is a woman from New Orleans, La. that has cooking and food in her genes. She’s professionally trained and is now residing in the beautiful city of Buenos Aires, Argentina learning Spanish and operating her own business. She takes beautiful photos and provides tales from her time in Argentina, solid cooking tips, as well as fabulous recipes. You should check out her post on WINTER TART and pate brisee.

8. If you want to see a plethora of recipes and photos then go over and see Maggie at Maggie’s One Butt Kitchen. It’s absolutely unbelievable the amount of food an the quality of the food she turns out of her little kitchen. But that’s what you do when cooking and food is your passion. Check out her post on Coconut Cream Lime Chicken.

9. Alice Lau is a Girl in a Food Frenzy, a delightful blog by a young woman who took her artistic talents in theatre and design and is now applying them in culinary school. When I am looking for inspiration I always go to her site. In fact, Alice inspired me to get the sous vide machine and experiment with it. Check out her post on Tuna with Prickly Pear Salsa.

I was recently nominated for this award by a dear, longtime friend of mine, Kathy at Abbie and Eveline. Kathy is passionate about her family and genealogy and Abbie and Eveline were her grandparents. Abbie and Eveline is a genealogy blog about Kathy’s family where she shares family stories and some of her family recipes as nothing beats family, friends and good food. Also, as a side note, the blog was designed by her very talented daughter. I am very touched and honored by her nominating me for this award as she is a very special person. Thank you very much Kathy and I am very honored that you thought about me for this award.

The Illuminating Blogger Award was created by Food Stories and is an award that anyone can bestow on their fellow bloggers for illuminating, informative blog content. The Rules for this award are:

The nominee should visit the award site (http://foodstoriesblog.com/illuminating-blogger-award/) and leave a comment indicating that they have been nominated and by whom. (This step is so important because it’s the only way that we can create a blogroll of award winners).

The Nominee should thank the person that nominated them by posting & including a link to their blog.

Select at least five other bloggers that you enjoy reading their illuminating, informative posts and nominate them for the award. Many people indicate that they wish they could nominate more so please feel free to nominate all your favorites.

One Random thought about me is that sunglasses and me are usually quickly separated and somehow, some way I recently lost another pair. Oh well.

Blogger Nominations.

1. meatballs & milkshakes is a wonderful blog full of beautiful photos and tasty recipes. It has been recognized by Food52, Yummly, Weekend Roundup and more. It’s a site you really need to see. Check out her recipe for Stuffed Mushrooms

3. Barbara at Just a Smidgen is a Calgary mom who loves life in general and is very multifaceted. She blogs about poems, paintings, photographs, food, music and stories. She has a nice writing style and her photos are beautiful. Check out her post on Wylie’s Winter Ale Bison Stew.

4. Andreea of the windy kitchen is a grad student at the University of Chicago who became tired of cafeteria food and is cooking a healthier lifestyle. She posts some very tasty recipes accompanied by really nice photos. Check out her post on Feta Tart with Tomatoes Cucumber Salad

This is Veena’s second nomination of REMCooks and we are deeply honored to receive two nominations from her. Virginia at Our Growing Pains also nominated me for the the Blog of the Year 2012 award. WOW. Two nominations from both Virginia and Veena I am greatly honored they would think of me for two awards. Thanks, Virginia and Veena. I am very honored to receive this award and both of your thoughtfulness.

Here are the rules to accept this award:

1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award
2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with their award.
3 Please include a link back to this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award – and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)
4 Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them
5 You can now also join our Facebook page – click the link here ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience
6 As a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars…

Nominations

1.

Laura, over at Laura’s Mess – notes from a creative kitchen blog, has honored me by nominating REMCooks for the Kreativ Blogger Award. We very much appreciate the honor of her nomination. Laura is an English-born woman who, living in a tiny apartment down under with her husband, best friend and food photographer, Aaron, loves to cook. Her passion for food shows in her recipes, too. Check out Laura and her blog, especially her Kale Salad with Chilli, Garlic and Parmesan. Thank you, Laura, for such an honor.

Rules for the Kreativ Blogger Award

Visit and thank the blogger who nominated you

Acknowledge that blogger on your blog and link back

Share 7 (seven) random interesting things about yourself

Nominate 7 (seven)KreativBloggers for the award. Post a link to their blogs then notify them of their nomination

Copy and paste the award somewhere on your blog

7 random facts about me which may or may not be interesting

I am terribly afraid of heights.

I absolutely love music and am a die-hard romantic. Ask the Baby Lady.

I like kitchen gadgets of all kinds.

I won’t let anyone burn candles in our house, including the Baby Lady, because of what I do for a living, namely investigating product liability fires and seeing numerous candle fires. I even installed the Aga Legacy 44 range in our kitchen in an enclave surrounded by tumblestone because it is not combustible and not a fire hazard. The whole family thinks I am weird.

I shoot all the food photos with a Sony A580 with a Minolta 50 mm 1:2.8 Macro lens with no touchups because I still don’t have a clue how to use Photoshop.

Although I have lived 57 of my 58 years in Texas, I was born in Madison, Wisconsin and absolutely adore cheese.

Baby Lady calls me “Sweetie Man” cuz she loves me. Aw…aint she cute?

Nominations

1. to be posted later

Marcella (“Marcy”) Rousseau at For Your Good Health Blog very kindly nominated us for the Beautiful Blogger Award. It’s a real honor to be nominated for this award. You see, Marcy is a very talented freelance writer and a person with a lot of interests like gardening, cooking, fitness, and health, to name a few. You should check out her blog, especially her post on New Food Friday – Kumato Tomato. Thanks, Marcy, for such an honor.

Here are the rules!

1. Add the image of the award to your blog post.

2. Thank the blogger who nominated you and include a link to their blog.

3. Post seven interesting things about myself.

4. Nominate other bloggers who I feel deserve the award and let them know about the nomination.

Seven Things About Myself – see above.

Nominations

1. Sapana Behl over at the blog Cooking With Sapana. Sapana is a science teacher in Dehli, India with a true passion for food. She is sharing her secrets and those of her moth-in-law about Indian food and the Punjabi region. She has some fabulously flavorful recipes. You should check out her recipe for Eggplant/Aubergine /Brinjal Sambhar. I like eggplant and sambhar so this dish was right up my alley. If you love Indian food like me, go check out her blog.

2. Guy Humeniuk over at the blog The Food Guy. Guy’s blog is dedicated to Mediterranean cooking. It’s a really nice blog you definitely need to check out. He posts some beautiful photos and recipes of the food he prepares. I especially like his post on Artichokes With Warm Pancetta Dressing but, of course, I really like artichokes (not nearly as much as Baby Lady). So if you like Mediterranean food (who doesn’t), then go check out Guy’s blog.

Betsy at South By Southest blog honored REMCooks with the nomination for the One Lovely Blogger Award. Thanks, Betsy, I am deeply honored by your nomination and thoughtfulness.

Thank the person who honored me with this award and post their link(s) – done

Nominate 15 other blogs for this honor – to be completed later. These awards really are a lot of work.

Tell readers 7 things about myself – done above

Nominations

To be posted later

Life has been very hectic of late and I missed this award from Jen over at Baking Bohemian. I hate it when that happens. 😦 Thanks, Jen for thinking about me for this award. I am very honored

Now, for those of you who have never been to Jen’s blog, Jen immigrated to the United States from Bohemia when she was was a child and started cooking with her mother when she was 8. She bakes up a storm on her blog with some very eclectic , non-Bohemian recipes thrown in for good measure. You definitely need to go check it out. Recently, Jen did a post on Blueberry Upside Down Cake that really caught my attention. You see, Baby Lady & I adore blueberries. We eat them frequently for breakfast with a little yogurt; however, I had never imagined making an upside cake with them. Now that I have seen it done, this is a recipe we will definitely try.

Rules for the Liebster Award

Thank the person who honored me with this award and post their link(s) – done

Nominate other blogs for this honor – to be compiled later

Answer the following questions:

Why blog? I started REMCooks.com in late January 2012. For several years I had been posting photos of our meals on Facebook. At one point my wife suggested I start a blog but I wasn’t interested and it went no further. Then, my sister-in-law, Adela, started asking my why I didn’t start a blog. She persisted in her comments and I began to consider a blog. I had been working on a computer cookbook for the children as several of them had favorite recipes I had cooked over the years. The blog seemed a better solution. Ultimately, she persuaded me to start REMCooks.com.

Where does your inspiration come from? Anywhere and everywhere. Somedays, it’s a recipe I’ve found. Other days it’s a food show. Other times, it’s what we see at the market. It really is whatever strikes us at the time.

Where did you grow up? Corsicana, Texas – home of the Collins Street Bakery, the largest purveyor of fruit cake in the world. Sadly, I don’t particularly care for fruit cake. 😮

Where would you love to visit? Our favorite place to go is Hawaii. We love it there. Insofar as going somewhere we have never been, I very much would like to go to Europe.

Mountain, ocean or lake? We prefer the ocean and I would love to live in Hawaii.

Favourite childhood meal. We had a nanny (Annie Mae) when I was a child who I loved very dearly. She fixed the very best fried chicken and apple pie. She stopped working for my folks when I was probably 6 or so. I had not seen her since that time although she did see my folks periodically as my dad was her family physician. Nevertheless, on my 16th Birthday, unexpectedly and unannounced, she showed up at our house and fixed me her Fried Chicken and Apple Pie for my birthday meal. To this day I am still blown away by her, that she remembered my birthday after all of those years and that when she got off work she came to our house to fix me my favorite meal. I was very blessed to have her in my life.

Favourite food to cook. Hard to say. We make a lot of Southwest/Mexican food and like it a lot but I love French food and was trained in that style of cooking. I love red meat but for health reasons we don’t eat a lot of it. I also love cajun food and spent 3 years in bayous of Louisiana learning cajun cooking.

Most must have ingredient/s. Salt. You can’t cook without salt. I also love cooking with chiles. We also grow lots of fresh herbs in our backyard. What makes the difference between a good meal and an alright meal is the seasoning in the food.

Favourite kitchen tool. My Wusthof Classic knife set.

Best way to unwind and relax. Reading with the Baby Lady while drinking a nice glass of red wine.

Importance of facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to your blog. Facebook and twitter aren’t very important to the blog at all. Pinterest, however, is different. Roughly 11.5% of the views on the Blog are referred from Pinterest.

Hi Richard, another big congrats to you and your fellow bloggers for the recognition of your work and talents. Thank you for the mention and incredibly kind words. Much appreciated as always. I will send a link back once I have it posted! Cheers, 🙂

“I won’t let anyone burn candles in our house, including the Baby Lady, because of what I do for a living, namely investigating product liability fires and seeing numerous candle fires. I even installed the Aga Legacy 44 range in our kitchen in an enclave surrounded by tumblestone because it is not combustible and not a fire hazard. The whole family thinks I am weird.”

I used to work at Avon (ding-dong) headquarters in NYC for a product liability lawyer. I got to see the photos of the burned children and read the stories of the fires and the people whose hair caught fire and suffered third degree burns. After that job, I never liked candles. Besides their fire potential, people don’t realize that they also pollute the air in the home. I own 3 flashlights. When the lights go out, I use one of them.

Nice to see you around and thanks for your comment. Like you point out, anyone who does these types of cases feels the same. None of my experts/consultants allow candles in their homes. When I remodeled my home I had to have a gas range. Hence, I purchased the AGA range but we had to reroute the gas to the enclave. We had to rip out a wall several times because the contractor wanted to use Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing (CSST). It’s flexible and easy to install but is a known fire hazard. I had insisted on black pipe and simply won’t run risks when it comes to fires. I’m glad my family puts up with me.